Hooray for Bollywood on Burke

February 19 2003

Tucked away behind a suburban milk bar is an oasis of Indian cinema, writes Philippa Hawker.

In the suburbs, the current trend is towards volume, to multiplexes, multiple screens and Hollywood blockbusters. But in Glen Iris, there's a new and very different kind of dream of the cinema: the Taj, a purpose-built movie theatre devoted to films from and about India.

The Taj is not easy to find, unless you know exactly what you're looking for. It is next to a milk bar, on a small shopping strip on Burke Road, flanked by Just Hockey and the Academy of Scuba. From the street, there is virtually no hint that there is a small, but roomy, movie palace upstairs.

Red carpets, film posters on the walls, comfortable seats, surround-sound, and a substantial screen, it's a cinema devoted to showing not just Bollywood movies in Hindi, but also films in languages such as Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi, as well as the occasional Western film with an Indian theme; The Guru, for example, or Bend It Like Beckham.

The cinema's owner is Abdul Haroon, the proprietor of the milk bar, which also operates as the box office. There is a small cafe on the premises, which sells refreshments, Indian sweets and snacks. At the back of the milk bar, a flight of stairs leads to an Indian grocery and a video store, stocking videos and CDs. Haroon's wife, Farhad, runs the business with him. His four children, the eldest of whom is 19, help out at the cinema.

Haroon has been organising screenings of Indian films since 1997 in various locations; at university campuses and the Chinatown Cinema in Bourke Street. But he decided he wanted a cinema of his own, and when the building next door became vacant, he decided that the time was right. It took three years to build, and cost about $1 million, he says.");document.write("

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His involvement with Indian movies goes back earlier still. Haroon, who came to Australia from Fiji in 1974, and studied civil engineering at Monash, bought the Burke Road milk bar in 1983.

He says he didn't know that the imminent construction of the South-Eastern Freeway was going to mean that many local shops would disappear, and that this would significantly cut back on his business.

Needing another source of income, he started up an Indian video store at the milk bar. An Indian community association helped him publicise it with a mail-out. The business grew: now, he says, Melbourne has many such stores.

A lot of his movie customers are overseas students, for whom Indian movies are a connection with home. While this is his core audience, Haroon has greater expectations. The Taj, he hopes, will be "a cinema of the future . . . two to three years from now, it will serve a wider community". He recently screened an Afghan film, which was shot in Melbourne. He has just come back from Colombo, where he signed up some Sri Lankan movies, which will soon be showing.

Some of the films are subtitled, but many are not. Haroon has bought a subtitling machine which will enable him to put English subtitles on every film screened at the Taj.

"We get a lot of calls from people wanting to know if the movies are subtitled so they can bring their non-Indian friends along," he says. He often has had to say no. His new investment will, he hopes, make these films accessible to audience members whose interest has been piqued by Monsoon Wedding and Bend It Like Beckham, and want to see more.

The Taj has a full-time projectionist, Rakesh Verma, who also runs the Taj website. It gives information about the program and forthcoming films. There is also an email mailing list with regular updates.

There's no budget for advertising at the moment. Haroon is hoping that a more prominent sign will help, but the council won't allow neon or flashing lights.

One of his most popular films - he has screened it at the Taj and elsewhere - is Lagaan, nominated last year for an Academy Award. It is Bollywood at its most appealing, a long but always diversing movie about cricket, colonialism, desire and betrayal, a tale of Empire and underdog, bullying villains and unorthodox bowling actions, with some stirring musical numbers, a cross-cultural love story, and a protracted, engrossing, down-to-the-wire cricket match. It still screens occasionally at the Taj, and is well worth seeing.

Haroon also recommends the period drama Devdas as a good introduction to Bollywood.

Cricket will be, for a short time, a feature of the cinema: during the World Cup, the Taj will screen all games involving the Australian and sub-continental teams.

Admission is free, with snacks, samosas and refreshments on sale. The games begin at 7pm and 11pm, and Haroon hopes it's yet another way to let people know what the cinema has to offer.

- The Taj is is upstairs at 275 Burke Road, Glen Iris. It is wheelchair accessible. For inquiries and bookings, ring 9885 6644, or visit www.taj.com.au.